Background
JOHNSTON, Albert Sidney Son of Dr. John Johnston, a physician.
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Albert Sidney JOHNSTON
Edit ProfileEducation
Private school, United States Military Academy.
Career
His wife Abigail (Harris) on February 2, 1803, in Washington, Kentucky. Raised in Louisiana, he attended Transylvania University, where he was a close friend of Jefferson Davis, and graduated eighth in a class of forty-one from the U.S. Military Academy in 1826. He was an Episcopalian and a Democrat.
He married Henrietta Preston on January 20, 1829, and, after her death, Eliza Griffin on October 3, 1843. His one son by his first wife, William Preston Johnston, was aide-de-camp to President Davis during the war. After his graduation from West Point, Johnston entered the army and was sent first to New York and then to St. Louis.
He was a regimental adjutant in the Black Hawk War of 1832 before he resigned his commission in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1834. The following year, he enlisted in the Texas army during the war for independence, and after being wounded during a duel, he rose in rank to become commander of the Texas army. From 1838 to 1840, he was secretary of war for the Republic of Texas, and during the Mexican War he fought at Monterrey as a colonel of the Texas volunteers.
In the 1840s, he was also a planter in Brazoria County, Texas. Poverty-stricken by 1848, he reentered the U.S. Army as a paymaster in 1849. By 1855, he had risen to colonel of the 2nd Cavalry, and the following year he commanded the Department of Texas.
From 1858 to 1860, he fought the Mormons in Utah and had charge of the Department of the Pacific. Johnston, a unionist, felt himself a Texan, and he agreed to resign his commission in the army only if Texas seceded. He resigned in April 1861.
On August 30,1861, he was appointed a full general in the Confederate Army and was placed in command of the Department of the West. Johnston had personality problems as a commander. He could not properly direct the actions of subordinates.
His faith in Genera] Leonidas K. Polk was shaken by the loss of Forts Henry and Donelson in early 1862. Although his attack on General U. S. Grant at Shiloh resulted in success for the Confederates, Johnston himself was mortally wounded and bled to death on the battlefield on April 6, 1862.
Religion
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Politics
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Connections
Spouse Henrietta Preston.
